Journalist, entrepreneur and marketing firm founder. I write about higher ed and early career issues. Pithily. I was pontificating about Millennials and Millennial culture back when they were still known as Gen Y.

Only 20% of Gen Y women say that they want to follow in the footsteps of the female leaders in their workplaces, says new research from Bentley University. The survey of 1000 college-educated Millennials found that while 84% of respondents said that they could identify at least one female leader at their job, most didn’t want to emulate her career path.

This rejection of the current iteration of female corporate achievement also extends to attitudes toward mentorship; only 5.5% of respondents claimed that a colleague, supervisor or role model was their primary source of career cheerleading, with spouses/partners or parents much more likely to be identified as key career supporters. And only 25% of Millennials of both genders give credit to a manager or supervisor for encouraging them to assume a leadership role at work.

“These Millennials are very clear about what is important in their lives, which may indeed be different than what is important to their leaders. They want to find a different path to leadership that allows time for personal lives. Yes, they are rejecting the current paradigm of the corporate career path along with the way work is done. They will work hard and be loyal, but they want respect for their personal values in return,” says Susan Adams, the lead researcher on this project, professor of management at Bentley University and senior director of Bentley’s Center for Women and Business.

And indeed, her research points to Millennials who are willing to make certain concessions for on-the-job advancement – for example, 84% would agree to a take a lateral move to gain beneficial work experience and 69% would be willing to travel frequently for work – but who also prioritize the intrinsic satisfaction they expect their careers to provide over the bottom line, with 84% claiming knowing that they’re making a difference in the world is more important to them than professional recognition and 79% rating a positive work environment as more important than the size of their pay check.

The research also highlights a breakdown in how corporate leaders are providing guidance and support to female subordinates and how these Millennial subordinates are receiving their overtures and the tangible effects this support has on career development. Only 35% of female survey respondents said they “often” received positive recognition at work, with women more likely to receive verbal praise and men more than twice as likely to say they received recognition in the form of financial compensation and almost twice as likely as women to say they received promotions or special assignments as a form of positive recognition. These findings echo research conducted by Catalyst in 2010 that found that not only did mentored men win more promotions than women, their promotions came with greater financial compensation – 21% increases to women’s 2%. Catalyst’s research also found that mentoring alone was not sufficient to close the gender wage gap between high-performing white collar workers. Despite these disheartening statistics, Adams believes that the mentoring model can and should be saved.

“Mentorship is not dead. In fact, I believe our findings suggest it needs to be increased. Young women need more models so they have more options to consider. They need mentors who care about their career aspirations to provide honest feedback and support for continuous learning and political navigation. They also need mentors to serve as sponsors who will advocate for the new career experiences they seek. I say career experiences not promotions because they may want to postpone a promotion in favor of a new lateral experience if they feel a promotion would impede on family time. Our data support the idea that women could be more ambitious than men in believing that career and life aspirations can co-exist. Men and women have similarly high career aspirations but women add higher family aspirations to the mix.”

But do young women see their ambitions as achievable vs. purely aspirational? While 43% of female survey respondents with children and 33% of those without said they planned to be just successful as the female leaders in their workplaces – albeit by following a different path – 54% of all female Millennials also still believe the gender ambition gap explains the relative lack of female c-suite executives, despite research showing that young women now outpace men when it comes to valuing high-achieving careers. For her part, Adams is confident that Millennial women will be able to surmount the work-life tensions that plague their Baby Boomer predecessors when it comes to structuring their own careers in a way that reflects their priorities and pushing for changes in the workplace to accommodate their values. “Time will tell whether this is the generation that transforms Corporate America. While they may mellow a bit during the family years, there are many signs suggesting that they won’t give up on their dreams to have it all and to help others.”

Ask the Sheryl Sandbergs, Anne-Marie Slaughters and Hillary Clintons of the world and it’s very likely that they were singing exactly the same tune at 25. It may benefit the kids to start paying attention after all.

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We have to stop this in-fighting. I’ve had younger women (Gen-X) look me straight in the face and say, “I don’t want to end up like you,” to which I once responded, “then you don’t want my salary either.” That was the OLD, BAD Vickie. The generation-fighting, stressed out, litigating woman in her early 50′s.

Listen. I didn’t want my career to be all imbalanced either. It’s just that there wasn’t much of a choice. The women who preceded me told me I couldn’t – not shouldn’t – couldn’t succeed in the law if I got pregnant before I made partner. They were quite firm about that. And looking ahead, it appeared to be true.

I left practice for a teaching career. I didn’t get pregnant. I returned to practice.

I understand that young women don’t want to duplicate their mothers’ lives or the lives of any woman in their mother’s generation. Why would they? The culture has dramatically changed. Their opportunities have dramatically changed. The economy has changed. And it’s changed for everyone.

So let’s get together. Let’s resolve that none of us will disrespect the other simply because we’re not the same age, grew up in entirely different working cultures and are all struggling with the same tough economy. Let’s listen to each other. Let’s take the best of what each has to offer. Let’s plan for a profitable future together.

Amen! I think a natural part of growing up is rebelling against your parents’ norms, but this rebellion shouldn’t involve cutting off your nose to spite your face. I think it would certainly benefit Millennial women to understand the (social, political, economic) context in which their predecessors made the career decisions they did and how this context differs from their own.

Yes, and unfortunately, as I hear from many of the young women I mentor, sponsor and with whom I consult, the cultural and political context in male-dominated industries hasn’t changed all that much because the boomers are holding on to their jobs so tightly you can see their rope burns. Know your negotiating partner. Don’t assume one boomer is the same as any other or one X or Y is the same as any other. In fact, don’t assume anything. Ask questions. Assume benign intent until you learn differently. Go! young women! and make the world in your bright image!

Of course it would benefit Millennial women to understand the social, political and economic context of there predecessors, but I think us older women need to be more empathetic about the economic uncertainty Millennial Women have grown up in.

argh…The male-dominance in many industries can not be explained away by blithely accusing boomers of holding on to their jobs as if they are doing something wrong – rope burns, indeed!! The economic disaster that is the US makes early (or late) retirement virtually impossible – what else can boomers do? Eat cat food?

I applaud young women for rethinking the “you can have it all” and making it “I’ll work until I have a family and then I’ll do what I can until they don’t” – there is no reason society shouldn’t encourage them to do this. We do not become stupider when we have children, just busier, so give us some flexibility and re-entry pathways! We’ll pay society back tenfold, I promise! Just don’t throw us away in favor of cheap overseas labor!

More women than men will continue to see careers and money-making as secondary, as long as women continue to regard a husband largely as an “employer” who must earn enough income to give them, according to Warren Farrell, author of “Why Men Earn More,” these three options:

-work full-time -work part-time -be a stay-at-home wife/mother. (Men have three “options” as well: work full-time, work full-time, work full-time with over-time.)

Therein lies the full explanation of how BOTH sexes create the gender wage gap, “women’s 77 cents to men’s dollar,” which fuels the Democratic and feminist push for ever more “equal pay” legislation.

There are few women (or men) who want to be a duplicate of someone else. Most just want what they want on their terms and feel smart enough to get it. Whether being smart enough–or driven enough–is sufficient is the great unknown. It really comes down to what you expect of yourself, what you’re willing to give in return and what you’re lucky enough to get through other people. No one is self-made. They always get a job, an opportunity, an education, a loan or an inheritance from someone else.

In-fighting? Well, tell Sandberg that blaming the work-life imbalance experienced by most women on their “lack of ambition” is deeply offensive and lets society off the hook. No changes needed, women can now succeed IF THEY REALLY WANT. Like so many lucky young people who benefit from being in the right place/time, Sandberg now believes she is brilliant rather than just very, very, very lucky. I have experienced every kind of blatant sexism in my high-tech career and struggled to keep up with new technology until I realized children and high-tech do not mix. It is because women like me fought our way through the men’s club that her job is possible! How dare she accuse ME of lacking ambition. Also, she admits that her children have suffered (“it’s FOR them” she cries) and urges women “not to leave before they leave.” Apparently responsibly planning a family and how to replace yourself in the corporate world now reeks of inadequate ambition. In-fighting? More like insulting.

This thought-provoking article has generated a lot of discussion here at the YWCA USA. Several of YWCA’s Gen Y women from across the country have responded to “Shut Up, Sheryl Sandberg” on our blog: http://www.ywcablog.com/?p=1063. It’s interesting that they don’t all agree with each other about whether young women want to follow in older female executives’ footsteps.

Great discussion! Women are changing the story and leading as women! We need to do it across generations.. and I believe there is something unique about this generation. If you’re interested in joining us for the first ever Young Women’s Leadership training happening in Bali, Indonesia in August we still have space for a few more young women leaders (we’re calling “young” ages 18 – 35)… Email me at youngwomensleadership at gmail dot com. Or check us out online http://youngwomensleadershipbali.weebly.com/

I’m a Millennial and I can see where this article is coming from however i certainly admire the few female CEOs we do have i admire what they have achieved so far and i do have personal favourites being Angela Braly and Carly Fiorina. I think its very important to be aware about woman’s achievements being a woman myself not just of CEOs but of Noble Prize winners as well sometimes i feel that not enough people care enough to talk about how talented these women actually are. For example i have been in scenarios with family and work colleagues and if they are asked to name someone great who has accomplished a lot the person they mention first is usually a male 90% of the time even when its women being asked!!! Victoria i think it was quite rude for Gen-X ladies to say that to you i personally would admire what you have accomplished but i think i would better off concentrating on what i want to bring to the world through the expression of my own gifts and talents hence leading to greater contentment & fulfilment rather then a copy.

Why does one assume that being a mentor means to follow in a mentor’s foot steps at all?

I am sure that a lot of these “millennials” as the article puts it, may not even realise they have mentors because it is usually an undefined relationship that has grown over many months or years. We all have relationships with people we respect and perhaps sometimes unknowingly are more likely to take their suggestions and advice, or go to for help or bounce ideas off. Surely this is a mentor. If someone were to ask me if I had a mentor I would say no. If they then ask me if I needed one, based on my first answer I would probably say I am doing just fine on my own. But if I look closely at my relationships at home and work, I can probably identify people I would go to for certain advice, or people I admire and would like to model myself to.

I am sure, the men and women who take the time to build good relationships with peers and do great work will find it easier to build mentoring relationship (consciously or subconsciously) than those who flatly ask “can you be my mentor” as Sandberg argues.

Somewhere among all these articles that tell young people that they need mentors to achieve success, the whole meaning of the word and how to actually build those relationships is lost.

Apart from that, I think this article pretty much reflects Sandberg’s points in “Lean In”. Why all the hate?